The Monster That is PAX

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No doubt about it now. This is a must-see event.

By Levi Buchanan

If you weren't at PAX Prime in Seattle, you missed one hell of a party. According to stats at Big Download, over 67,000 gamers descended on the Washington State Convention Center. That's over 6,000 more people than PAX 2009, which was also a smash.

Why so many people? Because PAX is open to the public. But it's more than that. PAX is a celebration of gaming in all of its many forms, the acceptance of so-called geek culture, and just a great way to meet old friends as well as make new ones – something the IGN crew did all weekend.

Game publishers, too, have taken note of PAX and now make sure to use it as a way to get their games in the hands of regular (but enthusiastic) gamers before the all-important holiday season. Take Gearbox, for example, which used PAX to surprise everybody with a finally-playable Duke Nukem Forever and the news that it now owns the Duke brand outright. Electronic Arts had a massive booth for gamers to try out the upcoming Medal of Honor, Sony and Microsoft were showing off their motion controllers, and Valve lined 'em up around their booth to see a fresh co-op demo of Portal 2.

As a brand, PAX will not slow down. Earlier this year, PAX East debuted in Boston during the chilly month of March, but still packed in over 50,000 people. Apparently, plans for an annual PAX East have been solidified through 2013.

Did you miss PAX? Then check out our coverage of the many games at the show, as well as a list of previews for titles that were big hits at PAX, but we had already seen in their current form before the expo.